My Journey to Motherhood {Infertility Awareness}

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Unsung Lullabies- Infertility Awareness 2016- Corpus Christi Moms Blog
In honor of Infertility Awareness Week, I am sharing my journey to motherhood with all of our readers in hopes that what I share is encouraging to you as you continue to work through your own journey. Be blessed.

Infertility Awareness

I met the love of my life in the eighth grade and, call me crazy, I remember telling my friends that one day he would be my husband. Sure enough, we got married in June of 2004 at the age of 21. Six months into our marriage, we both agreed that we wanted to expand our family so we started trying to have a baby. So we tried, and tried and tried again with no success. After one year we decided to seek medical advice. I went to a fertility specialist and they ran a series of blood panels, and took my stats (weight, height, family background.) My doctor told me that I had Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) and that it was going to be a difficult journey for us to conceive.

To share a little bit about my background, I had always had issues with my menstruation. I would go months without ever having a period or when I did get it (maybe twice a year) they were so heavy that I literally had dizzy spells and felt sick to my stomach from it. My doctor told me that this was a side effect of PCOS, and that it would go away if I just followed XYZ, meaning diet, exercise, and weight management.

After losing about 25 pounds, I still was not pregnant, so the doctor recommended fertility drugs. He prescribed Clomid for me and I began the treatment, in hopes of getting pregnant right away. My first round of Clomid was not too bad. I still was able to do my regular activities, but after one cycle, the doctor upped the dosage amount in hopes of it helping. Round two was hard. I had very intense mood swings. I was angry all the time and crying a lot. The intense cramping from the drugs that were in my body were so severe that I couldn’t even get out bed some days. When round two was over, I had a really good heart to heart with my husband where we discussed if we wanted to go any further. We made the hard decision to stop the fertility treatments and to ‘let nature takes its course.’

That, for me, was a hard decision to make. As a woman, I was feeling very inadequate and was literally questioning my reason for staying married to a man that I couldn’t raise a family with. I felt like I had failed as a woman and as a wife.

Luckily, our strong community at City Church rallied behind us, prayed with us, and encouraged us through our SEVEN YEAR JOURNEY to our first child.

During those seven years, I really struggled with my idolatry of children. I even prayed that the Lord would change my heart’s desire for children if I was destined to not have any. I sought counsel from some very Godly women who I just can’t thank enough for being there for me during some of the darkest days of my life. During those seven years I grew in my walk with the Lord and in knowledge of what He had planned for my life. Instead of changing my heart, He gave me an even greater love for children. I began ministering to other moms and children in our church. I volunteered as the church’s Nursery Coordinator, meeting moms and making very close friends!

After about four years, I had a glimmer of hope in my life. We got pregnant! I was so excited that I texted everyone I knew to let them know and everyone was super happy for us, but after a couple of weeks, I lost the baby through a miscarriage, on Mother’s Day of all days. My OB said I had a ‘molar pregnancy.’ I was, once again, devastated, and again, started questioning the circumstances in my life. My hubby was my rock during that difficult time and really ministered to me and helped me work through my emotions and questions.

Fast forward to January of 2011. I had been experiencing intense menstrual cycles so my OB decided to do a MRI of my uterus. It turned out I had polyps on my uterus and she scheduled for me to have them removed and also to have a dilation and curettage (D&C) to ‘clean our my uterus.’ It was very successful because four weeks later we were pregnant with our first child, and then babies number two, three and four came shortly after.

My road to motherhood is filled with much tears and sadness, but also with much joy. Would I trade it for anything? No, because it is unique to me, just as your road to motherhood is unique to you.

One day you will have a story to tell the world and I look forward to hearing about it. How has your own journey to motherhood made you better?

In honor of National Infertility Awareness Week, we are dedicated to raising awareness and educating our community about the varying types of infertility and the many options available. Our hope is that this series opens, provides inspiration, and moves us all to a deeper sense of compassion. So, please join us as real local moms open up and share their stories all throughout the week.

Read more Infertility Awareness stories and perspectives from Corpus Christi area moms.

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Angelica C
Angelica, also lovingly referred to as Angel, is a wife to her high school sweetheart, Oscar, and the young couple finally tied the knot in June of 2004. After struggling with infertility for seven years, they welcomed their first child, Gideon {January 2012}, and in three short years they welcomed Annabelle {2013}, Deacon {2014} and Jubilee {2015}. In the summer of 2016, Angel’s oldest child was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), which she continues to educate herself about by reading books, listening to podcasts and attending local classes and training events. When Angel isn’t busy tackling home duties and juggling her children’s activities, she enjoys taking self-defense classes at Krav Maga Houston, which she has been attending since moving to Houston in November 2016. She also loves coffee, reading, and meeting new people. Angel strives to live out 1 John 3:16 daily and loves talking and teaching others about what that means.

4 COMMENTS

  1. Thank you Angel for sharing your story. I had polyps also and had them removed in hopes of success. I’m so happy for you both that God blessed y’all with sweet ones.

    • Thanks, Pam! It was easy to sit and write this, but emotional to think of those moments leading up to my first child being born. Sometimes I forget about the journey, but it is apart of who I am and a testament of faith and perseverance.

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